MacLeod, 59, who just finished his sixth season in South Bend, has never questioned the policy. Until now.

"From a recruiting standpoint, to be in continual one-year (contracts) is not good," he said. "It's not a healthy situation for the simple reason that it's used against you in recruiting."

Rev. William Beauchamp, the university's executive vice president, said Tuesday that MacLeod will be asked to return next year. Beauchamp also said it was possible that MacLeod would be offered a multiyear deal.

"It would be different than how we ordinarily do it," Beauchamp said. "If John felt it was important, it certainly would be considered."

MacLeod will meet with Athletic Director Mike Wadsworth sometime in April. Wadsworth is on vacation this week, and MacLeod will be out of town recruiting the following week.

Notre Dame's low-key stance is just another way in which the school with its own television network swims against the tide.

Several schools this week rewarded their basketball coaches with contracts that run through the middle of the next decade.

Clemson coach Rick Barnes was given an extension through 2004. Tulsa opted to give four more years to its coach, Steve Robinson, even though his original deal would not have expired until 2000.

Those coaches, however, had leverage after attracting attention from schools with coaching vacancies.

MacLeod did earn the Big East Coach of the Year award, leading the Irish to a 16-14 record and the NIT quarterfinals. But MacLeod, 79-94 at Notre Dame, said Tuesday he wants to stay in South Bend and has not been contacted by any other schools.

Beauchamp finds the idea of long-term contracts silly. Former Irish coach Digger Phelps, he points out, operated under year-to-year contracts for his last 15 seasons.

"All this hullabaloo," Beauchamp said, "and no one seems to pay attention to them anyway. You have coaches who (leave), and if universities want to terminate someone, they can do it anyway. I don't know what long-term contracts mean."

For MacLeod, it would serve as a defense mechanism against recruiters who warn players that MacLeod might not be around for their full careers at Notre Dame.

Beauchamp downplayed that reasoning: "Players are going to go to schools with a good combination of academics and athletics. That's what they should be basing their decision on."